Psychiatrists (also known as “alienists”) were optimistic that mental illness could be cured with appropriate asylum care 4. Though there is some debate as to the actual level of influence that medical superintendents had in asylums 9, it is clear that physicians’ classification systems and ideas regarding treatment did have an impact on state hospitals. Psychiatry came into its own in the 19 th century 10. Early proponents of moral treatment claimed high rates of cure. Visits from family members were discouraged, and asylum superintendents relied on “quiet, silence, and regular routine” to restore the insane to more orderly thinking (p.138) 6. Moral treatment involved establishment of a regimented daily schedule, including disciplined work 6. “Moral treatment” emphasized care of curable patients.

Her efforts led to the founding or enlargement of over 30 mental hospitals 7. Three historical events affecting asylums in the mid-nineteenth century were the following: one, reform efforts of Dorothea Dix and others to improve treatment conditions for the insane 7 two, the introduction of moral treatment into American asylums 8 and three, the rise of psychiatry as a medical specialty 4.ĭorothea Dix, a reformer and activist from Massachusetts, took her crusade around the United States, working to get people with mental illness out of poorhouses and jails and into asylums. The idea of the asylum as a place to treat and cure mental illness became popular in the United States, and by the year 1860, 28 of the 33 states had public insane asylums 6. The asylum was envisioned as a quiet, idyllic home where those with mental illness could be cured 5. Runge’s papers.Īsylums developed in the late 18 th century as a place of refuge for individuals with mental illness 4. Louis Insane Asylum will be discussed as an example of a facility that experienced a decline around the year 1900, using patient records and Dr.

An overview of trends identified by Breakey 3 as leading to the decline of the asylum will then be provided. This paper will explore the origins of asylums and discuss their rise in influence in the nineteenth century. Runge faced financial and political challenges that made operation of the asylum difficult. The asylum also housed many patients with ailments that were not amenable to mental health treatment 2. Overcrowding, and use of the City Poorhouse for “overflow” patients, was a particularly vexing problem. Edward Runge, the superintendent, handled those problems. Patient records from 1900 show the challenges the facility faced, and how Dr. Louis Insane Asylum is a good example of this decline among public facilities, experiencing many of the same problems that afflicted other public institutions at the turn of the century 1. Public asylums housed large numbers of the mentally ill, but they were no longer providing innovative treatment, or in many cases, any treatment at all. By the end of the century, however, these hospitals had become custodial facilities.

Large state institutions began as facilities where those with mental illness could come not only to receive treatment, but also to recover. 1900Īfter a century of growth, insane asylums experienced decline in the early twentieth century.

Twisted insane the insane asylum